Disclaimer: I don't own Junjou Romantica

-JR—JR—JR-

Akihiko's POV

"I know you can get through this," I told Misaki. "You're strong." My hand tightened the on the doorknob, ready to turn it and leave the room, but Misaki spun on me furiously, eyes glowing with anger and pain.

I was confused when he pulled his sleeves up, but that quickly turned to stunned shock. "Look at this and tell me that I'm strong. Tell me that I have strength after resorting to something so shameful!" I heard a hint of desperation in his voice, as if he was begging me to be disappointed in him, as if begging me to see his weakness.

The scars that littered his forearms covered practically all of the skin, and if I looked closely I could see words under other jagged scars, but only faintly, as if he scratched them out with a knife. Which, I realized with growing horror, he probably had.

I finally found my voice again. "W-was this because of . . .?" I trailed off, unable to finish my own question.

Misaki seemed to have calmed down, and looked at me with almost dead eyes. "Because of you?" he asked thoughtfully, and didn't even wait for me to say anything. "Partially. After you left and didn't come back, I thought about it, but I never resorted to it. Well, until jail."

When the brunette mentioned his time in prison, I noticed how his eyes darkened and gained a haunted, empty look to them. He gently pulled the sleeves back down, a stark contrast to the mood he was in before.

I felt the guilt that'd been building up for the past few years grow, grow so much I was afraid that it might swallow me whole and suffocate me.

"I . . ." I started, but there was nothing I could say, so I stopped talking. As the two of us stood in silence, neither of us saying anything or looking at each other, I knew I had to say something, anything, to make it better.

"I know you could never forgive me for what I've done," I started with a soft voice, "but can we at least start again? Start as friends?"

Misaki stared at me with calculating eyes, still haunted and empty, and yet so full of emotion and pain. It felt as if he were looking right through me, looking at every piece of me and observing it with such careful eyes that he knew the whole inner workings of my mind, how to put it together and also how to break it.

He gave a soft, tired sigh. "I honestly don't know, Akihiko. I don't know if I could even stand being around you long enough for us to be friends."

I thought about his words for a moment, wondering what exactly he meant by them. Did that mean that he still loved me? Or, in the time I was gone, did he come to hate me for leaving?

"We don't even have to be friends," I said, grasping at straws for any hope that he would no longer feel any hate toward me. "I just . . . don't want you to hate me."

Misaki looked at me almost incredulously, as if he couldn't believe what I was saying. "You think I hate you?" I only looked at him in confusion. If he didn't hate me, then that meant . . .

The brunette looked as though he wanted to say something, but Takahiro called me down at the same moment Misaki opened his mouth.

"Sorry," I said. "You can tell me your answer later." With that I left, almost smirking at how disgruntled Misaki looked at being interrupted despite the situation.

-JR—JR—JR-

When I saw Misaki stumble in front of my speeding car, my heart stopped in my chest. I slammed on the brakes and bolted out of the car, letting out a cry of, "Misaki!" I was at his side in a second.

The brunette was looking up at the sky with blank, almost peaceful, eyes. I tried to get his attention, tried to get him to at least look at me, but there was no response, and in my panicked state, I faintly noticed Aikawa calling the paramedics on her phone next to me.

I saw the small pool of blood forming beneath Misaki and began panicking even more, frantically trying to keep the brunette awake, but before I could do anything his eyes fluttered shut and his head fell to the side against my arm.

I heard the ambulance screech to a stop behind me and allowed them to take Misaki away from me, then got in my car and followed behind it, somehow not being stopped by police as I sped behind them. Aikawa was in the passenger's seat next to me, crying quietly to herself, a concerning difference from how she usually was.

The ambulance finally reached the hospital, so I quickly screeched into a parking spot and jumped out, watching with worry as they wheeled him into the building. I followed them, staying as close as I could to the gurney without tripping any of the nurses or doctors up.

I only stopped when a door came in between Misaki and me. I began stood in front of the door for kami knows how long until a nurse led me to a private waiting room. It wasn't long before Takahiro barreled into the room that Aikawa and I were in with Minami trailing worriedly behind him. Ritsu followed them in soon after, a frown on his face.

"Is Misaki alright?! What happened? Is he dead? Tell me he isn't dead! I-" Takahiro fired off, but I put a hand up to stop him from saying anymore, shaking my head.

"I don't know anything yet," I told him. "He's in surgery right now." This stopped the raven's rant. He sat down in a chair across from me dejectedly, worrying at his lower lip. Minami sat next to him and held his hand, rubbing the back of it comfortingly.

Aikawa was currently sitting in the chair to my right, biting her previously meticulous nails nervously and staring at the beige door with an intense gaze. It was as though she was willing it open and Misaki to walk through with her entire being, and I couldn't really blame her. I wanted that as much as she did.

I sensed Ritsu sit down in the chair to my left, still frowning at the floor. I took his hand, in need of comfort as much as Takahiro and Aikawa did. Strangely enough, Ritsu pulled his hand from mine while furrowing his brows, still not looking at me.

"What's wrong?" I murmured, as though there was someone to listen in on our conversation.

"We need to talk, Usagi," he replied softly, then grabbed my wrist and pulled me out of the room. When we were in the hallway, he looked at me with unusually serious eyes.

"What is it?" I asked, not unkindly. Ritsu didn't say anything for a few moments, gathering his thoughts from what I could tell.

"Usagi, I think we need to break up," he finally said, and looked as though there was a weight off of his shoulders.

My eyes widened in shock. How could he say that when we'd been so happy for so long? "Why?" I asked weakly, somehow asking the question without realizing it.

The brunette seemed to be struggling with his words. "It's . . . It's because I've seen the way you look at him, without even realizing it. You have so much love in your gaze, it dwarfs the way you look at me. And I've seen how much pain he's been in when we're together. I'm not as oblivious as I seem, and I know you're not that oblivious, either. You've seen the pain he's in."

I stayed silent. Ritsu smiled gently at me. "Go be with him. I know you may think you're in love with me like you were in love with him, but it's different. We're different. You . . . you two are the perfect couple, honestly. You belong together, and I know that there's someone waiting for me, too. We need to go our separate ways and be happy. Okay?"

I swallowed thickly. "Okay," I rasped. The brunette hugged me as gently as he'd smiled at me and kissed me softly on the cheek.

"Good luck," he told me, then left. "And keep updated on Misaki-chan's condition." I nodded and watched as he disappeared down another hallway with sad eyes. I took a deep breath, then another, and walked back into the waiting room.

The rest of the occupants of the room looked up when they realized that Ritsu wasn't with me. "Where's Ritsu-kun?" Minami asked me confusedly.

I hesitated, but drew up my courage and spoke. "He, um, had somewhere to go," I said, not looking the intuitive woman in the eyes. I saw Aikawa narrow her eyes in suspicion.

I went back to my seat, refusing to meet anyone's eyes and staring at the floor instead. I got lost deep in my thoughts, only snapping out of them when the doctor opened the door and looked at us with grim eyes.

All of us bolted to our feet and looked at him with anxious eyes. "You're here for Misaki Takahashi, yes?" he asked tiredly. We all nodded.

"Well, I can tell you that he's made it through the surgery," he said, and I felt hope swell in my heart, but it was quickly quelled. "But he's not quite out of the woods yet. There was major internal bleeding from the blunt force of the car hitting him. He also got road burn, three broken ribs, and a major concussion from hitting his head on the ground forcefully. He lost a lot of blood, so, along with the concussion, he's gone into a coma. There's no way to tell when Takahashi-kun will wake up."

The four of us stayed silent, taking in the information. I felt like I was being drowned in guilt and regret. I was the one to leave him, break his heart, and hit him with my own car. I felt horrible for all that I'd done, and knew that Misaki deserved better than me.

After a couple of minutes of silence, Aikawa asked the question none of us could get out. "C-can we see him?"

The doctor nodded and motioned for a nurse to lead him to the room. We followed her down the off-white hallways until we came to a stop at room 221. She opened the door for us, then left. I took a deep breath, then stepped into the room.

-JR—JR—JR-

And so you have the fourth chapter. And, hey, at least this cliffhanger isn't so horrible (if it can even be considered a cliffhanger). Thanks so much for reading! Favorite, follow, review, and PM me. Until next time . . .

~O'Malley out!